Bewitched and Way Too Bewildered
by ghostwriter56
Summary: A Halloween Story...Can Vlad and Danny survive a hundred years of captivity without killing each other?


Title: Bewitched And Way Too Bewildered!

Author: Ghostwriter56

Rating: Y7

Synopsis: Halloween is coming and there's a plot to capture both Vlad and Danny for 100 years, the question being…could they stand each other that long?

Chapter I

The Witches Grotto was a part of the Ghost Zone few ghosts cared to visit. It was a very run down, tired neighborhood for ghost witches who hadn't quite made their mark. Unlike the Witches Haven where only the most successful witches lived, good and bad.

The Grotto was where the two Grossly sisters lived. Aggie and Zelda. Two witches who never quite made a mark of any kind, now stuck in a run down two-story home crammed next to many others like it in the Ghost Zone.

Ghost Zone TV was humming, what with Halloween just a few days away and everyone's favorite gossip commentator was on.

"Yes, you lucky ghouls and gals, it's me! Joan Blabbers with the scoop on all the upcoming parties and events, but first I just want to remind everyone that this is the end of the reign of our current Witch Ghost Queen, Demarza Cantrellie. Yes gang, can you believe it's been a hundred years! Hundred years on the throne, who's been sending her toilet paper all this time? Ha! Well, as you all know, we will be crowning a new Queen at the Ghost Zone Gala and there's going to be a lot of competition out there! So all you witchy women out there brush up on your best spells, because the gal with the best spell wins! Now, on to other news…"

The television turned itself off as the middle aged looking witch leaned back in her chair.

"I've got to win this time! I've been trying for the past nine hundred years! There's got to be something…" Zelda said as Aggie floated into the room.

"Oh no! Don't tell me you're going to try for the Witch Ghost Queen title again!"

"I've got to, Aggie! I have to win!"

"Zelda, every time you've tried, you've lost! Why keep getting your hopes up?"

Zelda smiled and reached out to grasp the other ghost's hand.

"Sis, I gotta, it's in my ectoplasm! There's gotta be something I can do that will wow this bunch, really put 'em in orbit!"

Aggie shook her head, her pale blue hair floating about. She picked up the newspaper and read a bit.

"Hey, that Ghost Boy has been sighted again! Sure is a cute little fella."

Zelda shot Aggie a quick look.

"Let me see that!" Zelda snatched the paper away from her. "The Ghost Boy also known as Danny Phantom…. interesting. Half human, half ghost."

"Yeah," Aggie said with little interest, flipping through a new issue of Ghost Gal Monthly. "There's that other one too, Vlad Plasmius. I guess the two don't get along very well. What I hear is Plasmius is pure evil. Boy would I love a date with a guy like that!"

Zelda thought a moment and asked her sister.

"Aggie, if they're half human then they live in the Human Zone, who are they?" Zelda knew her sisters love of all gossip in the Ghost Zone.

"Oh, let me see…..oh the Vlad guy goes by Vlad Masters, suppose to be some big shot billionaire and the kid's name is Danny Fenton, his dad is suppose to be some kind of ghost hunter, but it's the kid who catches the ghosts as a ghost. Pretty disgusting if you ask me."

"How did they become ghosts?"

"Well," Aggie got all excited at being able to tell a good story, "Seems the Masters guy was a college buddy of Fenton, the kid's dad? Well then there was this accident and Masters got a face full of exposure to Ghost Zone radiation from a portal Fenton built. Took awhile, but over twenty years he's become a real bad guy, just my type!"

"And the boy?"

"Well, Danny's only fourteen and he was messing around in his dad's lab. Dad's got a big ol' portal now. Guess his friends dared him to go in, so he did and hit some button and go a full dose of the radiation. He turned ghost immediate like, where Masters took a bit longer, but Masters has had his powers a lot longer. It's been less than a year for Danny. See, Danny just wants to do good with his where apparently the Masters guy wants to turn Danny bad and raise him as his son. Hear he's tried to knock off Danny's dad a few times, always fails though."

"You are a wealth of information!"

Aggie looked at her sister's far away look and got concerned.

"Hey, sis what's going on in that witchy head of yours?"

"What if I were to capture those two halfas? There's no way the committee could not give me the crown! Then we could move outta this dump and to the Witches Palace where we belong!"

Aggie floated off the beat up couch and put her hands up to protest.

"Now just wait a minute Zelda! Those guys are tough! Everyone has tried to capture them! Plasmius is one heavy-duty ghost! Guys got powers some witches wish they had. That little Danny kid is tough as nails too. Plasmius has been trying to get him for a while now, heck everyone's tried, Walker, Skulker, Spectra…the list goes on, it's a who's who of the baddest bad guys around and no ones been able to get him." Aggie shook her head.

"No way sis. No pun intended, but you've got a ghost of a chance in catching one, let alone both of them."

Zelda floated out of her chair and over to her dusty spell book by the crumbling fireplace.

"Mama left me her spell book and I know there's got to be something in here." She muttered as she poured through the hand written pages.

Aggie settled back with her magazine until Zelda let out a whoop that made Aggie soar to the ceiling with a splat.

"I've got it! It's perfect!" She danced about merrily until she looked up at the ceiling to see her sister still hanging there. She took her bent twig want out of her apron pocket and pointed it. "Get down from there, now!"

Aggie dropped like a sack of rocks back to the couch.

"What's so perfect?" Aggie asked, rubbing her forehead.

"The spell that's gonna get us out of here! Mama's book never lets me down and she's got a spell in there that's gonna bring those two halfas to their knees before me! Start packing Aggie! Halloween is gonna be our night to blow this dump!"

Chapter II

"So, why don't you want to go to the Halloween Party?" Sam asked Danny over lunch. It was a very balmy day in October and the sun sparkled on the last of the colored leaves still clinging to the trees.

"What should I come as, a ghost?" Danny sighed wearily.

"Bed sheets always work for me!" Tucker smiled, finishing his sandwich.

Sam let out a small laugh.

"Yeah, those rose brocade sheets your mom got for her birthday last year? You were grounded for a month!"

"And, Dash and the guys had a field day tying you up to the basketball hoop at the middle school." Danny added with a snicker, only to have his mood turn sour as Dash and Kwan came to the table.

"Well, lookie here Kwan! We got the three Geekateers! Fenton, Foley and Manson! You three should come to the party as yourselves, that's scary enough!" Dash said loudly enough to raise laughter from everyone around.

Sam and Tucker noticed the quick flash of green that glowed in Danny's eyes whenever he got angry.

"No Danny, not here." Sam warned.

Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Where he would be without Sam's sound advice, who knows?

"What do you guys want? I thought we were off the abuse rotation until after Christmas?" Tucker asked, checking his PDA to see if his statement was correct.

"Just wondering if you three got the nerve up for a little dare?" Dash sneered, leaning on the table.

"Just being seen with you is dare enough." Sam intoned darkly.

Dash brushed off the insult and directed his remarks directly to Danny.

"Ok Fentunzo, here's the deal. Whoever can whip up the crowd at the Halloween party wins."

"Define "whip up" with a little more detail." Danny asked with a growing interest.

"Which one of us can scare the pants off everyone there, you twit! Oh, and no using your parents ghost stuff."

"What do I get if I win?"

"I lay off you for a whole semester."

"And if I loose?"

"You have to be my personal school slave for the next semester. Carry my gear, run my errands, you get the drift." Dash said with confidence.

"Danny, no! He's too confident!" Sam warned, but she could see the sparkle in his eyes. No one loved a dare more than Danny Fenton and the chance to beat Dash Baxter at his own game.

"You agree to lay off not just me, but Sam and Tucker and we've got a deal."

"Deal!" Dash grinned with assurance. "See ya at the party Friday night, oh and you'd better start working out, I got a lot of stuff for you to lug around!"

Dash and Kwan walked away with Kwan looking perplexed.

"Dash, you're really pushing it! Something about that Fenton kid gives me the creeps!"

"Relax! I got this show in the bag!"

"Danny! How could you agree to that! That guys life revolves around pounding you senseless!" Sam exploded as the bell for class rang.

"Well, it's better than moping around, besides you guys want me to go to the party and now I'm gonna. Just gotta figure out what I'm gonna do to blow old Dash outta the gym." Danny pondered as the three headed back into the school.

"Maybe between the three of us, we can figure something out." Sam smiled as she and Danny looked at Tucker still checking his PDA for his Dash Bash Rotation Schedule.

Chapter III

It was well past eleven when Vlad Masters emerged from his business meeting in Green Bay Wisconsin. The night air was clear and cold as he shrugged his heavy black overcoat on.

"Very productive meeting, Masters. You've got a lot of sound ideas for our company's growth potential. I just don't know where you get your insight from!" A plump elderly man praised as he and Vlad stood in the doorway of the empty parking garage.

"I think the word "insight" fills the bill, Carl. Do as I tell you, and we'll both be wealthy men." Vlad smiled.

"But you're already wealthy!"

"One can never have too much money now can one?" Vlad laughed as he got off the elevator and waved to Carl who stayed on.

Once alone, he growled.

"Fool! If only he knew that in a matter of months I'll be the owner of his company and he'll be out on his ear! Oh well, its just business!"

Vlad walked swiftly to his car as the air seemed to grow colder by the second. It wasn't until he was standing next to his car that he realized it wasn't the weather, but a ghost nearby.

"Whoever it is, show yourself, now!" He demanded in a booming voice.

"How dare you command me, little man!" came a cool voice from above. Vlad looked above him to find Zelda floating on a broomstick, her black and gray tattered dress fluttering in the breeze.

Vlad let out a small laugh of relief.

"Either you're the most pathetic example of ghostly witchdom I've ever seen or I finally need glasses!"

"That's not a very nice thing to say, Mr. Masters, or is it Mr. Plasmius?" She smirked as she tapped her wand in her hand.

"I don't think you'd like to meet Mr. Plasmius, madam. He does not like being held up by half-baked sorceresses. Now, what is your business with me and be quick about it. I have other fish to fry."

"Is Danny Fenton that other little fish? Don't look so surprised, sir. I've done my homework. I have a sister who lives for Ghost Zone gossip and you both are hot topics these days! What I want is simple enough. I want you!"

"Me?" Vlad's facial features screwed up in a combination of surprise and disgust.

"Yes you! I need your assistance so that I may win the title of Ghost Witch Queen and reign over the witches in the Ghost Zone for the next one hundred years."

"Madam, I do not engage in parlor tricks for the masses. I only use my powers to my own advantage." Vlad said with growing irritation at the ghost as he reached for the handle to the car door only to have a bright red bolt smack his hand, making him recoil.

"Now, now now! I'm not through with you yet! I need you to come to the Ghost Zone Gala with me this Halloween." She said sweetly.

Vlad shook his sore hand and rubbed it with his free hand.

"You are trying my patience! I am not going to the Ghost Zone on Halloween for any Gala of any kind!" His words were red hot with anger as he turned his back on the witch.

"Alright, I tried to do this the easy way. Now lets see how you like the taste of my pet's fangs. Sick him, Cuddles!" She commanded.

Vlad turned with a questioning look on his face.

"Cuddles?" He asked, only to have a rather large bat fly out of nowhere directly at him. In an instant, he encircled himself with the two black rings that changed him to Vlad Plasmius. He shot off several bolts of red Ecto-energy only to have Cuddles avoid them. The bat squealed as it flew in Vlad's face making him trip and loose his footing. As he fell, the bat sunk its fangs into his neck. Vlad cried out in agony as he changed back to Vlad Masters and passed out.

Zelda held out her arm and called to her pet.

"Such a good boy! Such a good boy is my Cuddles!"

Another ghostly form showed up in the form of Aggie, driving an old beat up ghost Cadillac that had seen a better afterlife. Aggie got out of the car and opened the back door. She tugged and heaved the mortal man into the back seat of the car.

"You could lend a hand you know!" She complained to her sister, still floating above, petting her bat. "Are you sure that spell isn't gonna kill him?"

"Of course not! The spell Cuddles was carrying will only last some ten hours or so. Plenty of time to get him locked up at home and get ready for phase two."

Aggie finished shoving Masters into the car and leaned against the door with a huff.

"The Fenton kid? You gonna have Cuddles do your dirty work on him too?"

"Oh no! I'm taking that boy on myself! After all, how much trouble can a fourteen year old child cause me?" Zelda smiled with great self-satisfaction.

Chapter IV

Sam came to the front door of the Fenton's home after school the next day, loaded down with several bags of sewing items and a portable sewing machine. Jazz met her at the door and helped her in with her load.

"Thanks Jazz, where's Danny?"

"Up in his room. What's all this about?"

"Gotta get Danny done up for the big Halloween party at school tomorrow night, aren't you going?" Sam asked.

"No. Got a lot of studying to do, what with midterms coming up." She stopped and went over to the staircase and hollered. "Danny! Sam's here!"

"Tell her to come up!" Danny hollered back.

Jazz rolled her eyes. "I don't know how you can be his best friend!"

"Years of practice." Sam smiled as she gathered up her packages again.

"Danny! Get down here and help Sam with this stuff! Oh, you are the laziest little brother in the world!"

Danny came running down the stairs in a blur and stopped right in front of his older sister, pointing an accusing finger at her.

"I am not lazy! I was trying to study!"

"Whoa, there's a first for my journal!" Jazz said happily as she left the two in the living room.

"Well, now that you're here, you can help me lug this junk upstairs. We got a lot of work to do before tomorrow night." Sam smirked as she tossed a box of notions to Danny and they headed upstairs. Danny dumped most of the things Sam carried onto his bed.

"I've already started it. Whatcha think?" Sam said proudly as she took a garment from an old dress box. It was a robe of silver gray silk velvet with tiny sparkling beads throughout it.

"Whoa! Pretty fancy! Where did you get it?" Danny said as she slipped it over his shoulders.

"Some old fabric my Grandma Manson had. She was going to make a gown out of it years ago, but said I could have it for this. She really likes you."

"Yeah, I like her too. She's a pretty neat old lady." Danny smiled as Sam pinned up the wide bell sleeves of the robe. "I didn't know you could sew."

"Grandma's been teaching me. Actually I enjoy it. It makes my mother happy and that keeps her off my back." She stepped back to admire the robe.

"Wow, that looks great on you, Danny!"

"You think? Kinda creepy, reminds me…" Danny let his voice trail off as he turned his back to her. Sam looked puzzled and then she also remembered.

"Oh, Circus Gothica? Danny you weren't yourself! That was along time ago, though I had to admit that's where I got the idea. You did make a dashing Grim Reaper." She forced a smile while he frowned.

"I nearly got you killed Sam. I'll never forgive myself for that."

Sam grabbed him by the arms and pulled him around to face her.

"Danny, you were under a spell, a bad spell! That orb is gone, Freak Show is in jail and the other ghosts are free. Let go of it, please? I hate when you get so down and moody, that's my thing."

Danny cracked a smile and Sam giggled as she pulled the deep hood over his head. Two white circled radiated outside of the robe and Sam peered into the darkness of the hood only to see two large green eyes glowing out at her.

"You know, that's pretty creepy."

"Think so?" Danny pondered as he floated a few inches above the floor, letting his voice go in a mournful groan that made Sam laugh.

Moments later, the bedroom door burst open and Danny's parents were there armed to the teeth with ghost catching equipment.

"Where is it? Where's the ghost? We just heard a ghostly moan coming from here!" Jack Fenton demanded as Sam stepped in front of Danny who quickly dropped to the floor and changed back to Danny Fenton.

"Jack! Behind Sam!" Maddie said, pushing Sam to the side and grabbing the hood of the robe. "Ah ha! You little ball of….Danny?"

"Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" Danny pleaded, holding up his hands, waving them about.

He let out a sigh of relief when he saw the weapons drop. "Hi Mom, Dad…uh sorry to get you all gung ho and all. Sam and I were just working on my costume for the Halloween party at school and I thought I'd just try out a few moans, wails and such. Sorry for the false alarm."

"But, were you floating just a few moments ago?" Maddie asked her son.

"No! He was standing on this stool! Made it look like he was floating, didn't it!" Sam half laughed as she pulled a stool over from the foot of Danny's bed.

"You know, that party is the day before Halloween. Maybe we should go just to be on the safe side." Jack pondered. Maddie lit up like a bulb.

"Jack! You always have the best ideas!"

Danny's countenance dropped to the floor.

"What's wrong son? Don't you want us there to protect you kids against whatever may be out there?" Jack stooped down and looked into his son's face.

"No, it's just…I don't know!" Danny stuttered as he sat down on the edge of his bed. "You guys just come off so gung-ho sometimes and it's embarrassing! I get ragged for weeks whenever you show up. Maybe if you wore normal clothes…"

Jack and Maddie looked at each other with newfound alarm. They sat down on either side of Danny.

"Honey! We never mean to embarrass you! We love you so much! Are you that ashamed of us?" Maddie asked with deepest concern.

"No, I'm not ashamed of you! Either of you! I, I just wish you could try to be a little more, well normal sometimes." Danny said with uneasiness in his voice.

Jack thought for a moment then said in his huge booming voice.

"I know! Your mother and I can wear costumes like everyone else! That way we can fit in and the ghosts can't tell us from the other partygoers! How does that go over with you, Danny?"

Danny gulped, not sure what to say, but found his voice speaking for him.

"That would be great, Dad. Thanks!"

Jack wrapped his son in a tight bear hug and his mom smothered him in kisses before they left.

"Jack we've got to find something to wear that's…." the door closed behind them. Danny dropped on his back like a rock on his bed.

Sam leaned on the dresser across the room with a big smile.

"I think it's so sweet how much your parents love you. Lot of kids would kill for that kind of attention."

"Sometimes I'm drowning in affection. Boy, that was a close one! I nearly got splattered!" Danny said, sitting back up. He looked confused as Sam who was giggling, but trying to hold it in.

"What now?"

"Your mom's lipstick! It's all over you!"

Danny groaned as he went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror only to groan louder.

"Sam, the only thing in my life that's scarier than ghosts are my parents!"

Chapter V

October 30th was the night of the school party and it seemed that practically everyone was there. It was a very lively party and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Everyone except Danny Fenton.

"Lighten up, Danny. The way everyone's dressed tonight, you're folks look normal." Sam urged handing the brooding teen a cup of punch.

"They said they'd wear costumes and they're still as they are!" Danny moaned from deep under the hood of his robe.

"Your Dad put on a tie and your mom has an apron. For them, that's dressed up." Tucker chimed in from behind the two.

"Hey Tucker, Mad Scientist this year, not bad!" Sam said with approval at his fake blood stained lab coat and fright wig.

"Sam, you're the loveliest witch here! No one else can mix Goth Girl and Witch quite like you do!" Tucker returned the compliment.

"Now if we can do something about Brooding Boris here." Sam said, jerking a thumb in Danny's direction only to see a glint of green eye from under the hood.

"Don't do that! It might set off your parents equipment!" She warned, squeezing his arm.

A moment later, Dash Baxter strode up to the trio, made up like a Frankenstein Monster.

"Nice dress Fentiny! Your girlfriend make it for you?"

Tucker grabbed onto Danny's shoulders to hold him back.

"Not now, Danny. Your parents are here!"

"Oh, that's right! Can't go anywhere without Mommy and Daddy can you?" Dash teased. "What's the matter? They afraid some spooks gonna drop outta the sky and whisk you away?" Dash bent down and peered into the dark hood of Danny's robe. "Get ready to haul some books, Fentonium!"

Danny closed his eyes and opened them to let the eerie green glow show in the dark. It took the large bully by surprise as he yiked and stumbled back, tripping and falling to the floor. Everyone around them laughed as Dash clambered back to his feet and hurried away.

Danny leaned against the wall and smiled.

"And to think I wasn't gonna come to this party!"

"Dude, you got this bet in the bag!" Tucker chimed in while Sam just glowered at the two boys.

As the party progress, Dash and Danny were working the crowd, trying to scare up the most shock factor, but Danny was winning hands down. His parents seemed pleased that he was mingling even though he was scaring everyone he bumped into and that was without his ghost powers.

It was near eleven as Zelda hovered over the school with her sister by her side on her broom.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay and help?" Aggie asked.

"No, you'd better get back before Plasmius wakes up from that spell. He's gonna be one angry fellow when he does." Zelda instructed her sister.

"Now that's a job I don't mind! You really went all out with the dress. Classic, but nice!" Aggie admired her sisters gray and black flowing gown and witch's hat with the long black veil flowing in the breeze."

"Sometimes you gotta put on the dog for the locals." Zelda sighed.

"Well, good luck sis. Happy hunting!" Aggie said as she flew off into the night.

"Here goes nothing!" Zelda grinned as she floated down to the roof of the gym then phased through the roof and hovered above the crowd. She gave off a flash of green light that got everyone's attention.

"Alright, where are you hiding him?" She demanded in an angry voice to frighten the crowd, which it did.

"Jack! Ghost! Ten O'clock!" Maddie cried out, pulling out the small Fenton Ecto-Pistol from her belt.

"What do you want, before we send you back where you came from!"? Jack demanded.

"I'm looking for that infernal boy! This place is full of them….ah! There's the little fellow now! Though you could hide from me, did you?" She grinned wickedly as she veered her broom into a dive and headed straight for Danny.

"Danny! Watch out!" Tucker and Sam yelled.

Danny spun around only to have a bolt of orange wrap around his chest and he was pulled up to the broom which hovered just feet above the shocked crowd. With a swift move of her wand, Zelda removed the gray robe that hid Danny dressed in his t-shirt and jeans.

"Let go of me!" He demanded as he struggled to break free of the bonds of energy.

"So, this is the great Danny Phantom I've heard so much about," Zelda said so only he could hear her. "Why don't you change boy? Put on a show for the towns folk?"

Danny shot her an angry look.

"Oh, that's right! You have a secret to keep! Well, I won't spill the beans. I have other plans for you, my boy!"

She loosened the energy bonds on him and threw him over her lap, face down. Danny was so angry at this moment; he grabbed Zelda by the left hand and bit her forearm.

She cried out in pain and anger.

"You little whelp! You nasty little boy!"

She grabbed him around the waist and spanked him in midair on her broom!

"Owwwww! Mom! Dad! Do something! Shoot, shoot, shoot!"

"We can't shoot, we may hit Danny!" Maddie worried.

"Well he's never too old for a good spanking…" Jack muttered, almost approving of the witch's actions.

She stopped punishing him and he looked around wildly for Sam and Tucker.

"Hold on Danny! We'll…uh think of something!" Tucker announced bravely at first, and then half-heartedly when he realized there was nothing he could do.

"It must be well past your bedtime, little one. Time to say goodnight and goodbye to these people." Zelda said with a wave of her wand. Bright glimmering orange dust came from the tip of the wand and settled on Danny's head.

"No, gotta Go….Go…Ghos….." He muttered as his eyelids surrendered to the spell that made him pass into a deep sleep.

Zelda smiled down at the shocked people.

"The Witch of Blackbird Pond! As Vice-Principal of this high school,

I demand you leave my student alone!" Mr. Lancer cried out.

"Sorry, I don't take requests. I just take want I want!" She laughed as she flew out a nearby window with the unconscious Danny.

"What was that all about?" Sam wondered, clutching Tucker's arm.

"Why in the world would she want Fenton?" Someone else asked.

"Jack, she's taken our baby and I want him back!" Maggie demanded, scooping up the robe Danny had been wearing.

"Don't worry Maddie, we'll get him back. That's a promise." Jack said, holding his wife close to him.

Sam looked at Tucker with worry.

"We gotta do some research, find out what this is about. Feel like pulling an all nighter?" Tucker challenged.

"Right, let's go to my house. I've got a book I need to look into that might help." Sam said thoughtfully as the pair slipped out of the school.

Chapter VI

Danny woke slowly, finding himself face down on a dusty couch in a dimly lit room. He tried to get up, only to flop back down with a groan.

"Easy Daniel, this is no time for heroics."

"Vlad?" He half coughed, his throat dry from the arid room.

"Yes. Unfortunate for both of us." He said dully as he bent over and helped Danny sit up take stock of where he was.

They were in what seemed to be a very dusty cluttered attic. Boxes, trunks and other forgotten items wasting away for ages in the cramp room. Danny then noticed that Vlad was not in his Plasmius ghost form, but still human Masters.

"Why didn't you change and escape? I'm not sticking around here…"

"Daniel stop!" Masters warned as the white bands appeared and Danny Phantom leapt from the couch only to bang his head against the ceiling of the room and fall back to the floor with a loud thump.

Masters looked down at the boy with disapproval.

"Daniel, when are you ever going to stop acting like a foolish boy and stay still long enough to listen to me? Now change back to Danny Fenton and I will tell you what is going on here."

"But we could…" Danny began, only to have Masters give him a harsh look. Danny let the bands envelop him again and he got up and took a seat next to Masters on the old couch.

"First, we cannot escape. I've tried and if I cannot get out, how do you expect to? Ah, now I have your attention, good! We are in the Ghost Zone, where I don't know but I'm sure our not so charming hostess will be coming shortly to fill us in on what her plans are for us."

"But if we're human now, that makes us the ghosts in the Ghost Zone. We should just be able to walk through the walls and…" Danny's voice trailed off as Masters shook his head.

"This witch has thought of everything. Not only is the house ghost proof, it's human proof as well. There is no way out."

"How did you get here?" Danny asked simply.

"Rather embarrassing to say the least. Apparently our hostess has a pet bat named Cuddles who bit me. Still rather sore there." Masters rubbed his neck where the bat had attacked him. "And you?"

"Got thrown over her lap on a broom. She spanked me in front of the whole school!" Danny said with muffled mortification. "I bit her on the arm when she threw that rope around me. I had to do something, couldn't Go Ghost in front of the whole school, could I?"

Masters got a good chuckle from the visual picture that painted in his mind.

"You are such a babe! What am I to do with you?"

"Yes indeed, Mr. Masters. What are we to do with this precocious child?" Zelda said as the door to the attic opened. "That was a very bad thing you did, Danny. You are a wicked, wicked boy."

"I could only wish he was!" Vlad sighed.

"Look, lady. I don't know what you want but I gotta go home! My folks get wind of where I am and there's gonna be a lot of fire power coming your way." Danny warned with darkness in his voice.

"My, my, don't you sound like your Daddy! The big windbag!" Zelda smiled as she took out her wand and made an old table come to the couch where the captives sat. A beat up tea service was hovering behind her on a tray as she guided it to the table.

"Now, let's all have a nice tea and I'll let you boys in on why you're here." She smiled her green face glowing as she pulled up an old chair and poured the tea, handing a cup to Vlad and then to Danny who looked at it with great caution.

"Now boys, I brought you here because I'm in a bind and I need your help," Zelda began only to have Vlad give her a icy stare as he drank the tea. "I'm in the running for the Ghost Zone Witch Queen and I need a show stopper of a spell to pull off and what could be bigger than capturing the only two half human half ghosts ever!"

"Drink you tea Danny, I had it brought here just for the two of you!" Zelda urged as Danny drank it down.

"Alright, you got us here. Let me make a bargain with you," Vlad said putting the chipped cup down on the table in front of him. "We show up at your contest. Ta-Da! You caught the two hybrids! Goodie for you, you win the contest and then let us go as long as we play along."

"Can't do that, Vlad. See the Witch Queen has to display her winning trick for the entire one hundred year reign."

Danny's cup dropped to the floor and shattered.

"One Hundred Years!" Vlad and Danny said in shocked unison.

"Yes, one hundred years. Not a long time, really, but time enough for me and my sister Aggie to get back on our feet so we don't end up back in this dump. In our day we were very powerful witches, but lazy and squandered most of our power, that's how we ended up here in the Grotto."

"May I inquire as to what young Daniel and I will be expected to do during the next hundred years?"

"Well after I split you from your human forms, that part of you will be put on display. Oh, don't look so alarmed; you'll only be asleep! Your ghost forms will be indentured to me, doing errands and such. So you see, it won't be so bad, will it?" Zelda said with an honest cheerfulness that chilled the room.

Vlad and Danny stared blankly at each other before turning back to Zelda.

"Vlad Plasmius is no one's servant, madam and never will be!"

"Yeah, and they got child labor laws for kids like me!"

Zelda got up from her seat and nodded.

"Yes, that's true, on your side of the world, but here I will make the rules and you two will work together whether you like it or not! When I win, you will spend the next hundred years in my service at the Witches Palace."

Danny timidly raised a hand as if in school.

"Yes Danny, you have a question?' Zelda inquired.

"Uh, what happens if you don't win?"

That was not a question she wanted to hear. A dark mist began to swirl around her and her eyes glowed a sinister red.

"You ask very dangerous questions, little one! Win loose or draw you will stay here. I'm not going to let you go and be the laughing stock of the Ghost Zone. My back up plan is to sell you off to the highest bidder; I know lots of ghosts just dying to get their hands on the two of you! That alone will give me the needed money to blow this pop stand once and for all. Any other questions, boys?"

"Daniel, I think you've upset our hostess enough for one day." Vlad moaned.

"Indeed he has! As have both of you. I'm afraid I'm going to have to put you both back to sleep until the contest begins. I can't take any chances of you sweet talking my dim witted but dear sister into letting you go, she does have a terrible crush on you, Mr. Masters."

Vlad rose from his seat and spoke very kindly to Zelda.

"My dear lady, why don't you just let me go and keep young Daniel here? After all he's worth twice what I am. I know Skulker will pay premium for him alone!"

"Gee thanks Vlad! What chapter in the Villains Handbook is that under?" Danny scowled at the betrayal. Vlad turned to the boy and smiled wickedly.

"When you do finally give up this idealist one ghost crusade for good of yours that will be one of the first books of required reading you will be assigned."

"Geeze, you sound like Lancer!" Danny moaned. He slowly rose from the couch. His eyes glowed an angry green as he let the white circles envelope him and transform him to Danny Phantom.

"Sorry lady, but I got homework to get done and my English teacher is a lot scarier than you!"

"Daniel, stop this at once! You…the tea?" Vlad barked, but a sudden pain rushed through his being as he stood up, only to drop back down on the couch into unconsciousness.

Danny was in mid air, getting ready to charge the witch when the same stinging pain overtook him. He dropped like a stone, landing in a pile of dusty boxes behind the couch as he changed back to Danny Fenton.

Zelda went around to the back of the couch and poked the boy with her wand. She hovered for a moment, looking at the two humans and shook her head.

"Why couldn't they have been girls? Girls are much easier!"

Chapter VII

It was a fortunate turn of events for Sam that her parents were away for the weekend and that Grandma Manson was keeping an eye on her for them. Grandma liked Tucker and Danny and would turn a blind eye to their comings and goings. She was from the school of the less you know about the kids, the better off you are.

They grabbed the books and headed back to the Fentons where they were joined by a visibly upset Jazz, sitting at a computer in the corner of the basement lab.

"We came right over. I have some books that might give us an idea who that ghost was." Sam offered as she spread her books out over a nearby table.

Maddie smiled as she hugged the pair.

"This is far too dangerous for you kids. We really appreciate the help…"

"Not to be disrespectful, Mrs. Fenton, but Danny's our best friend. We've got to help, any way we can." Tucker said seriously.

Maddie nodded her agreement.

"What do you have?" She asked.

"Well, this book is a chronicle of most of the great and not so great witches of history. Maybe she's in here." Sam explained as she flipped through the pages while Tucker went to help Jack with some fine-tuning on the Specter Speeder.

"I think I have it!" Sam exclaimed with a whoop. She grabbed the book and went over to Jazz and showed her the entry.

"Let's see if she's on the data base." Jazz nodded as her fingers flew over the keyboard. "Bingo! Mom, Dad! We got an ID on the floater that snatched Danny! Did I just say that? Hummm, another first for the journal!"

Jack, Maddie and Tucker rushed over and huddled around the computer screen.

"That's her alright! Zelda Grossly and her sister Aggie!" Sam smiled.

"The one, there." Maddie said, pointing to the picture on the screen. "Zelda, she's the one who took Danny, but why? What could she want with him?"

"Probably needs him as an ingredient in a spell of some kind," Jack muttered. "Young boys are always needed in evil spells, or maybe she just wants to eat him."

"Jack Fenton, don't even think that!" Maddie cried out in terror.

"Nice going Dad, you just freaked Mom out!" Jazz groaned.

"I don't think she'd eat Danny," Tucker offered. "He's too skinny and stringy."

"Oh brother! Tucker, you're a shaft of sunlight!" Sam said, punching Tucker in the arm.

"Maddie! I didn't mean it, I was just joking!" Jack smiled, putting his arm around her waist. "But there have been known cases…"

Jazz put up her hands, waving them about.

"Everyone! Please, let's focus! Wondering if Danny's going to be the Blue Plate Special is getting us nowhere…I can't believe I just said that!" Jazz smacked herself on the forehead.

"Now, back to Mom's question of why she took Danny. It's so close to Halloween, something must be going on in the Ghost Zone this year." Jazz said, pounding away at the keyboard as Sam flipped through her book.

"Got to be….wait, here's something!" Sam said, pointing to a page in the book near the back. "It says that witches who pass from this world to the Ghost Zone live in their own community."

"I'm on it….here it is in Darkmoor's Spirit Lore. Once every one hundred years the witches of the Ghost World hold a pageant to pick a new Ghost World Witch Queen who reigns for the next 100 years. They choose according to who can produce the best piece of magic and that magic will be displayed during the queen's reign. Could Danny have something to do with that?" Jazz wondered.

Sam grabbed Tucker and pulled him away from the Fentons.

"That's it! It has to be!" she said in a low, but excited voice.

"Danny?"

"Yes Tucker! What could be a better trick than capturing The Ghost Boy? No one's been able to hold him yet. That's why she came after him."

Tucker thought a moment, and then said in a low voice.

"Do you think she may have grabbed Plasmius as well? They make a great set of bookends!"

Sam looked at Tucker with shock.

"Oh no! If Danny is stuck for a hundred years with Plasmius, who knows what he'll turn into!"

"Danny? Not my boy! He's as straight as they come, good guy through and through!" Tucker said proudly. Sam frowned.

"Guess you've missed a few conversations with Mr. Goodness and Light then." Sam offered. "Tucker, listen to me. Danny is walking a tightrope now. He hasn't got Plasmius' powers and he wants them badly. You've seen how he struggles to do things that guy takes for granted. Danny's even thought about his offers to train him. Don't you see? If Danny gets stuck in the Ghost Zone for a hundred years with Plasmius at his side, he's gonna come back the worst thing to hit Amity Park since the Chocolate Pudding Explosion of 1938!"

"No way Sam! Danny would never turn evil." Tucker defended.

"Too bad we won't be around to find out! Who's gonna keep him wanting to do good when he's surrounded by evil? Even Danny can't hold out against that for that long a time. We've got to save him!" Sam pleaded.

"Ok, I'm in, but what crazy plan have you hatched this time?" Tucker asked warily as he followed Sam towards the Specter Speeder.

"I'm gonna enter that contest, at least it will get us close enough to grab Danny and get out of there." She said as they slipped into the speeder.

"Are you crazy! They're gonna know you're not a ghost!"

"Not if I use the Fenton Ghost Camouflage Spray all over me." Sam grinned, holding up an aerosol can she pulled from a storage box in the speeder.

"Sam, that hasn't been fully tested yet!"

"I don't care! Lets get going before the Fentons find out what we're up to!" Sam shoved Tucker behind the driver's seat and they quickly blasted off into the Ghost Portal.

The three remaining Fentons spun around to find Sam Tucker and the Speeder gone.

"Oh no! The kids have gone after Danny alone!" Maddie cried out.

"What are we gonna do?" Jazz asked fearfully.

"Hope those two know what they're doing." Jack intoned quietly.

Chapter VIII

The Ghost Zone Gala was well underway when Danny slowly regained consciousness. He tried to adjust his eyes, but figured out he was contained in a wooden crate of some kind with only a crack here and there for light and air. Trying to shift his weigh, he felt his chest bound by a faintly glowing chain and he was back to back against Vlad who was just coming around himself.

"What's happened now?" Vlad asked wearily.

"We're tied up together in a crate." Danny said flatly. "I think we're at that contest thing Zelda was talking about. Lots of rushing around and noise out there."

"Guess we're just being treated like the props we are. What a humiliating way to end my brilliant career of evil! Poor Daniel, you barely got off the ground!" Vlad lamented.

"Well, I'm not giving up, and I'm surprised to hear you talk like that! The Great Vlad Plasmius! What a joke!" Danny sneered, hoping to get a rise out of his nemesis.

"I'm going to have a hundred years to make you eat those words, child!"

"Wimp!" Danny snarled.

"Brat!" Vlad hotly returned.

"Cheese Head!"

"Miserable Tot!"

Sam and Tucker stowed the Specter Speeder in the back alley, covering it with an old torn stage curtain they found in the garbage. Sam sprayed her witches' costume from top to bottom with the Fenton Ghost Camouflage Spray, and then sprayed Tucker with it under much protest.

"Man, that stuff reeks!"

"You should know, Tucker by Tucker Foley?"

"Point taken. You have the Specter Six Shooter in case?" Tucker asked. Sam nodded, pointing to one of the deep folds in her skirt.

"Got the portable Real World Item Finder?"

"Yeah, but if Danny's Gone Ghost…"

"Gotta take that chance. Well, here goes nothing!" Sam took a deep breath and opened the back door of the hall.

There was so much bustle and hustle going on that no one notice the two as they moved about the back stage area. Hidden behind a series of ghostly drapes Sam and Tucker found a large talking crate.

"You couldn't float your way out of a wet ectoplasm bag with both ends open!" Danny's muffled voice said hotly.

"There's an old say, Straighten Out and Fly Right? Why don't you try it sometime Daniel?"

"Don't you go insulting my flying! I can fly faster than you, old man!"

"Why, you little…next time I catch you loose, so help me I'm going to ring that scrawny neck of yours so!"

Tucker and Sam couldn't help but laugh as they leaned against the box and listened to the tirade.

"You know, if this wasn't such a serious situation, I could just stand here and listen to these two go at it all night." Tucker snickered.

"Tuck, is that you?" Danny's voice called out.

"Yup, the Calvary has arrived to save the day, though I take it you're not alone in there. How's things goin' Plasmius?"

"Mr. Foley, would you be so kind as to open this infernal box and get me away from little imp!" Vlad demanded more than asked.

Suddenly, before they could make a move, a plump blue witch floated up to them waving her hands about and pointing to the clipboard she held.

"You must hurry! Zelda is next! Get that box on stage now!"

Tucker and Sam just looked at each other in surprise as the blue witch gave them a shove, flicking her wand as the box levitated and followed them to the off stage area with Vlad and Danny still going at it inside.

"You're taking it out on me because my mother wouldn't marry you!"

"If your dim witted father hadn't cause that accident, I could very well be your father!"

"Rather excitable, aren't they?" The blue witch asked uneasily as the box rocked slightly.

"Sam, get a load of who's at the Judge's table." Tucker whispered as the lights on stage came up and Zelda was center stage, dressed in her best black and gray gown.

"Sheriff Walker? That's the last thing we need!" Sam groaned.

"No! Remember how obsessed that guy is with rules and regulations and non Ghost Zone Contraband?"

Sam glanced at the box and pointed at it with a nod.

"Let's just sit back and watch the show." Tucker said with a mischievous grin.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Zelda began grandly as she motioned for Sam and Tucker to bring the box out which they did.

"I have brought you a feat of magic which will not only mystify you, but guarantee my place in the annals of Witchdom, for I, Zelda Grossly have captured the two rouge ghost hybrids, known commonly as Halfas!" She tapped the box with her wand and the sides collapsed to reveal Danny and Vlad still bound together. They closed their eyes to the bright stage lights.

Sam and Tucker stood perfectly still, though dying to rush to Danny's aid.

"I am now going to separate their ghost selves from their human selves, placing the human remains in a deep sleep for the duration of my hundred year reign as your new Queen." She raised her wand as the two prisoners cringed.

"Hold on right there!"

"Walker?" Danny asked in shock.

"Daniel, what's going on?" Vlad asked, trying to open his eyes against the bright lights.

"Sheriff Walker. Runs the Ghost Zone Prison. We're well acquainted, you might say." Danny said in a low embarrassed voice.

"Daniel Fenton, you were arrested!" Vlad cried out.

"Yes, he was and I should throw you both in jail for being here, but it would seem you are the victims of a crime." Walker's cold voice boomed out as he mounted the stage. "Ma'am, you know that bringing contraband other world items here is illegal?"

"These are not items, they're ghosts!" She replied proudly.

"But they are half human, which makes them contraband. I don't know what kind of spell you've got over them to make them solid in this Zone, but that's probably against the rules too."

"This fellow is good!" Vlad marveled.

"So, I'm gonna free the contraband and let it go back where it came from." Walker said, pointing to Sam and Tucker. "You two make sure these troublemakers get back to their world."

"Yes sir!" They said in unison as Walker grabbed the glowing chain that bound Vlad and Danny and snapped it away from them. Danny rubbed his eyes as he and Vlad simultaneously changed into their ghost forms.

"No! You can't let them go! You can't! This was my one big chance!" Zelda cried out as one of Walker's guards brought Aggie on stage in Ecto-cuffs and placed a pair on Zelda while the audience went wild with applause.

Vlad put a firm hand on Danny's shoulder and whispered,

"I think we should beat a hasty retreat, Daniel."

"Not yet. I got once piece of unfinished business." Danny growled as he broke away from Vlad's grip and shot into the air, He bore down on Zelda at an alarming rate of speed and punched the witch in the jaw, sending her flying to the floor.

"Bravo!" A wrinkled old witch in the front row yelled. "Good for you sonny! I've been waiting nine hundred years for someone to do that!"

The room erupted in thunderous applause to which Danny couldn't help but take a bow before he Sam, Tucker and Vlad hurried to the back door and the Specter Speeder. They piled in and were on their way home in moments.

"Daniel Fenton! I cannot believe my eyes!" Vlad said with a singular shock in his voice as he changed back to Masters. "You decked that woman!"

"She had it coming." Danny smirked as he too returned to his normal self.

"Danny, that was awesome!" Tucker whooped from the driver's seat.

"I'm not speaking to you, Danny Fenton! That was a heartless thing to do!" Sam chastised with her back to him.

"Yes, yes it was!" Vlad said with a tremble in his voice as he wrapped his arms around Danny. "I'm so proud of you, my boy!"

"Well, maybe it was wrong, but it made me feel so good!" Danny grinned.

As they neared the Fenton Portal, Vlad changed again to Plasmius and bid the children a fond farewell, until next time when he promised to make Danny pay dearly for the horrible things he said to him. He phased through the speeder and headed back to his own portal.

The speeder came through the Fenton Portal as Jack, Maddie and Jazz rushed to see the door open and the three kids step out, unharmed.

"Danny! You're safe! I was so worried! Did that horrible ghost hurt

you dear?" Maddie said, smothering her son with kisses.

"Son, you're back and safe! Hope you taught that ghost as lesson about messing with the Fentons!" Jack cried out, squeezing his small son in a bear hug.

"I'm glad you're home, Danny!" Jazz gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Geeze, I'm fine, really! I wouldn't be if Sam and Tucker hadn't come after me. You guys are the best!" Danny glowed as the three friends embraced each other in a group hug.

"You kids must be famished! Let's got to the kitchen and you can tell us what happened while I fix us some dinner." Maddie smiled as they all headed back upstairs.

"Mom, it's past twelve already!" Jazz said, looking at her watch.

"Well then, I'll make breakfast!" Maddie was only too happy to oblige her family.

Chapter IX

The following Monday, Danny was at his locker when Dash came up with Kwan. Danny had just pulled his arm out of the locker when Dash slammed the door shut.

"Hey! You almost broke my arm!" Danny squeaked, being surprised by the sudden appearance of the two jocks.

"Yeah, well you're just lucky I didn't! Seems I lost the bet! Mr. Lancer said you actually scared more people than I did!" Dash said hotly.

"Lancer was keeping track? Geeze that guy needs a life!" Danny rolled his eyes as Tucker and Sam approached.

"Dash and Kwan making house calls? The bully business must be falling off.'' Tucker smiled, only to cringe as Dash growled at him.

"It's not fair that you hired some actress to come in on a mechanical broom and swoop off with you!" Dash ranted, leaning over Danny.

"I was kidnapped by a real ghost witch! I swear! Ask my folks! Ask Tucker and Sam! They came to rescue me!" Danny protested.

"It's true! He's not lying." Sam said fiercely.

"Well, it's still not fair! I didn't hire anyone to do special effects for me, just cuz you can hire some old hag of a ghost…"

"You're a pretty sore looser. Look, you lost, I won. Deal with it as I and my friends will be dealing with a semester of less torture." Danny smiled as he grabbed his books and turned to leave only to have Dash give him a sound punch in the arm.

"Hey! What was that for?" Danny gasped through the sharp pain.

"Well since I can't touch you next semester, I figure I'll double up my efforts this semester. See ya in gym, Fentondina!" Dash and Kwan stomped off down the hall.

"Man, even when I win, I still loose! What's a ghost kid gotta do to get ahead around here?" Danny moaned.

"Look ahead to next semester?" Tucker offered with a smile.

"True. It should be a good one!" Danny smiled as the three headed down the hall to class.

Zelda and Aggie sat in the common room of the Ghost Zone Prison looking disgusted.

"Great plan sis! Let's capture the two Halfas! I'd rather still be in the Witch's Grotto than here!" Aggie complained.

"Oh shut up, Aggie!" Zelda growled at the TV flickered on and on came Joan Blabbers with the gossip.

"And what a show it was last night at the Ghost Zone Gala! Spooks and Specters if you weren't there you were nowhere! Our exclusive cameras got this film of Aggie and Zelda Grossly being arrested by our own Sheriff Walker! Such a hunk! But to top the night off with a bang, literally here's that sensational footage of the Ghost Boy, Danny Phantom giving a little back to his captor!….Wow! That must've left a mark!"

Everyone in the common room laughed and pointed as they watched the film of Danny socking Zelda off her feet.

Zelda rubbed her chin which was bruised purple from the blow and glowered.

"Someday Ghost Boy! Somehow I'm gonna get out of here and you will pay dearly for this! You and your friend Plasmius!"

"Oh, that Vlad! He's such a hunk….." Aggie sighed, only to find Zelda on top of her trying to chock her as the guards hurried to pull the two sisters away from each other.

Zelda looked at the screen, watching Danny take his well-deserved bow from last night.

"I swear on my mother's spell book, you will pay for this, my boy with both your blood and ectoplasm." Zelda muttered as she and her sister were led back to their cell.

"I wish you'd let me spend some time with Vlad, sis! He is the dreamiest…." Aggie chattered on as Zelda threw herself down on her bed and screamed into her pillow.

The End


End file.
